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10 WWE Stars Who Were In A Relationship In Real Life (And 10 Who Just Stayed Friends)

Over the past few decades, WWE has allowed many couples to work together on WWE TV because real couples have much more chemistry than the ones that the company put together themselves. Even though there are more couples in WWE right now than ever before and this number continues to grow, there are also a number of on-screen couples that didn't decide to take their storyline relationship into the real world. Working closely together for a number of months is usually enough to allow many superstars to become more than just friends, but factors outside of the company often stood in the way of romance for some of these stars.

Being on the road for more than 300 days a year and being forced to work closely with fellow superstars often leads to sparks, but this isn't the case for every couple, otherwise, WWE wouldn't be able to create any storylines in WWE without them becoming a reality. Sometimes having to act as though you're in a relationship can lead to real feelings which in turn leads to a relationship in real life and as the WWE Universe have found out in recent years, wrestling relationships rarely have a happy ending.

The following list looks at 10 on-screen couples that were in a relationship in real life, as well as 10 that decided that they worked much better as friends. Sometimes it's hard to tell which wrestlers were or weren't in a relationship since many of these stars were very good actors when they needed to be.

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20 Friends: Trish Stratus And Chris Jericho

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Trish Stratus had a number of on-screen romances throughout her six-year career, including storylines with The Rock and Chris Jericho. One of the most memorable intergender matches of all time saw Lita and Stratus take on Jericho and Christian in a losing effort after the two women realized that the men were only dating them because they had bet on who could progress their relationship first.

Of course, Stratus and her husband Ron Fisico have been in a relationship since high school and married in 2006 after 14 years together.

Chris Jericho married Jessica Lockhart in 2000, which means that these two stars were only ever going to be friends off-screen.

19 Relationship: Kelly Kelly And CM Punk

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Kelly Kelly came to WWE as part of the ECW brand back in 2005 and one of her first storylines involved CM Punk. Kelly was said to have been in a relationship with Mike Knox but had her eye on Punk and it led to a number of issues. Kelly's lengthy dating resume has become quite well known throughout her career and the former WWE Champion was one of the men who were on this list.

Kelly and Punk's relationship wasn't one that lasted very long after the couple joined the main roster since both of these stars went on to be part of many wrestling couples during their time in WWE before Punk recently decided to settle down.

18 Friends: Torrie Wilson And Tajiri

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In the early 2000s, Torrie Wilson was aligned with Japanese sensation Tajiri when she was still making a name for herself in WWE. Tajiri became a heel when he forced Torrie to cover herself up because he was jealous of the attention that she was receiving from other members of the roster.

This jealousy led to the couple's storyline split, but it's reported that this duo was never anything more than friends since Wilson was in a relationship with fellow wrestler Billy Kidman at that time and the couple later went on to marry. This marriage later ended in divorce, but Tajiri had left the company at this point and Wilson then went on to date Nick Mitchell from The Spirit Squad and Alex Rodriguez.

17 Relationship: Lita And Matt Hardy

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When Lita joined Team Xtreme in the early 2000s, she struck up a friendship which later turned into a relationship with Matt Hardy. The couple was one of the most popular teams in the company at that point, their relationship later became part of one of the biggest love triangle storylines in WWE history when Lita's involvement with Edge became public knowledge and WWE cashed in on the real-life issue to create a deeply personal storyline.

Lita and Hardy were somehow able to work together on WWE TV throughout the ordeal.

But the former four-time Women's Champion decided to retire from the wrestling business just a year later at Survivor Series 2006.

16 Friends: Bayley And Finn Balor

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Bayley and Finn Balor were NXT Women's Champion and NXT Champion at the same time a few years ago and their chemistry helped them to push NXT forward into the phenomenon that it is seen as today. There were a number of videos of the couple shared on Social Media where they would reenact each other's entrances and even put their own spin on Dirty Dancing as part of NXT Live Events, which led the WWE Universe believing that the couple were much more than friends.

Bayley is engaged to independent wrestler Aaron Solow, whilst Balor is reported to be in a relationship with Social Media Correspondent Cathy Kelley which means that the popular couple remained good friends throughout their time together.

15 Relationship: Melina And John Morrison

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Melina and John Morrison actually met when they were both part of Tough Enough in early 2004 and later debuted together the following year as part of MNM along with Joey Mercury. Morrison and Melina went on to work together as a couple on WWE TV for most of their career and even after both stars left, they remained together until 2015.

Morrison and Melina overcame a number of issues in their relationship but decided to call it quits three years ago, in that time Morrison has moved on to a new relationship with fellow Lucha Underground star Taya Valkyrie, after more than two years of dating the couple married last week in a ceremony that included a number of WWE stars.

14 Friends: Lita And Kane

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One of Lita's most famous storylines involved The Big Red Machine Kane, the couple worked together for a number of months and were even able to have an on-screen wedding on WWE TV which later led to a pregnancy before Lita sided with Edge and the couple finally broke up. The entire storyline was a little bit bizarre but it did allow Gene Snitsky to become a star in WWE and started the alliance between Edge and Lita.

Lita was in a real-life relationship with Matt Hardy when this storyline began, whilst Kane has been married to Crystal Goins since 1995, which could be why these two stars were never anything more than friends.

13 Relationship: Lana And Rusev

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Lana was signed to WWE after she auditioned for the 2013 Diva Search and WWE saw that she had potential to be a fantastic manager in WWE. She was then aligned with Rusev whilst the Bulgarian star was in NXT and the couple then started a relationship that led to marriage last year.

The duo has overcome a number of obstacles throughout their time on WWE TV, which obviously became much more difficult when they were promoted to the main roster, but they have continued to support one another in their singles careers and have recently begun working together once again. Lana and Rusev have also become a popular couple on Total Divas in recent years.

12 Friends: AJ Lee And Dolph Ziggler

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There aren't many male superstars that AJ Lee wasn't linked to whilst she was with WWE since she played a character that moved from man to man quite quickly, but after she lost her job as Raw General Manager AJ and Dolph Ziggler became a couple on WWE TV but despite the obvious chemistry between them, Lee and Ziggler were never anything more than friends.

The couple tried to keep kayfabe by updating Instagram pictures together, but Lee was dating CM Punk at the time which could be why this couple never pushed for a relationship to work. Lee had already been in on-screen relationships with Kane, Daniel Bryan, John Cena and CM Punk at this point.

11 Relationship: Maryse And The Miz

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Maryse and Miz first met when The Miz was part of the audition process for the women who were part of the 2006 Diva Search, it was here that he insulted Maryse and the former Diva stated that she wasn't his biggest fan. It was only when the French Canadian star and Miz worked together on SmackDown Live back in 2009 that sparks started to fly.

Their relationship became serious after Maryse left the company back in 2011 and they married in the Bahamas in 2014.

The former Divas Champion then returned to WWE back in 2016 and has since worked as a manager for her husband, Maryse is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to their daughter Monroe Sky back in April.

10 Friends: Torrie Wilson And Carlito

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Torrie Wilson and Carlito started an on-screen relationship on WWE TV at a time when both Torrie and Carlito needed someone who would boost their career. Torrie was married to Billy Kidman in real life, which meant that despite the kisses that the couple shared on-screen, their relationship was purely platonic.

Wilson and Carlito's alliance came to an end when The Caribbean star's ego became too much as part of a feud with'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair and Torrie took Flair's side. Carlito later easily defeated his former girlfriend in a one-on-one match that was sanctioned by Vince McMahon as revenge for laughing at him backstage.

9 Relationship: Maria And John Cena

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John Cena has been linked to a number of women throughout his career, but back in 2006 when he and Maria were put in a tag team match against Lita and Edge, the couple shared an embrace on-screen that started a number of rumours about their relationship status off-screen. Maria was said to have been linked to fellow Chicago-native CM Punk at the time, but Maria and Cena were linked together before he married his first wife Elizabeth Huberdeau.

Maria was later released from the company but returned last year with her husband Mike Bennett, whilst Cena moved on to a relationship with Nikki Bella, which is reportedly on the rocks at present.

8 Friends: Kelly Kelly And Mike Knox

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Kelly Kelly and Mike Knox were introduced to the ECW fans as a couple when the brand was first introduced under the WWE banner and Knox later started to be seen as the jealous boyfriend when Kelly obviously had her eye on CM Punk.

Kelly became known for 'Kelly's Expose' at that time and Knox would often come out and force the star to cover up when she went too far. This angle ended after the couple decided to break up and Knox was somewhat forgotten and then released from the company, whilst Kelly went on to become Divas Champion and one of the most memorable women of that era.

7 Relationship: Lita And Edge

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Lita and Edge became one of the most hated pairings in WWE history back in 2005 when the details were revealed about how the couple actually came together. Matt Hardy was out injured at the time and WWE wanted to keep Lita on TV so she was aligned with Edge. The couple later became more than friends in real life and this became known as one of the biggest love triangles in WWE history.

After the scandal came to an end, Lita and Edge decided to end their relationship but continued to work together on-screen. Lita has since moved on to date numerous other wrestlers including CM Punk, whilst Edge recently married fellow WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix.

6 Friends: Maria And Santino Marella

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Maria has been paired with a number of WWE stars on-screen over the years and even though she has been linked with a number of these stars off-screen, Santino Marella wasn't one of them. Maria and Santino were brought together since both stars were seen as a little ditzy but this was another relationship that didn't work out since Marella became jealous of the attention that Maria was receiving following her Playboy debut.

This couple was very mismatched both on and off-screen.

That could explain why they never decided to start a relationship despite both being reportedly single when they were first aligned together on WWE TV.

5 Relationship: Mickie James And John Cena

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Mickie James and John Cena worked together on WWE TV back in 2007 and it appears that this was another relationship that was able to become much more than just a friendship. She was engaged to fellow WWE star Kenny Dykstra at the time, but when he found out about their relationship, he caused such a fuss that Cena pulled some strings to have him released from the company.

Mickie wanted a relationship with Cena, which was something that he wasn't offering, so she was moved over to SmackDown Live away from him and was then quietly released. The couple has since been able to work together on WWE TV in recent years, but have both moved on both personally and professionally.

4 Friends: Molly Holly And Spike Dudley

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One of the cutest couples that WWE ever brought together was Molly Holly and Spike Dudley, even though their relationship meant that poor Spike was forced to defend his girlfriend's honor when Stone Cold Steve Austin had her in his sights. The couple was definitely seen as a pairing that was up against it in WWE but the time that they were together they looked as though they could defy the odds.

Spike Dudley married his longtime girlfriend back in 1992, which meant that he was a taken man the entire time he was wrestling for WWE so there was no room for this couple to become a real-life thing after their heartbreaking split.

3 Relationship: Brie Bella And Daniel Bryan

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Many fans will remember that Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan actually worked together on WWE TV long before Total Divas or WrestleMania 30 when WWE pushed the couple following Bryan's real-life injury. The Bella Twins actually fought for the affections of Bryan back in 2010 which was just a couple of months before the duo began dating in real life and even though their relationship didn't work on-screen, the reality was a completely different story.

Bryan and Brie dated for more than four years before they made the decision to marry just days after Bryan's WWE Championship win at WrestleMania 30.

They welcomed their first daughter back in 2017.

2 Friends: Mae Young And Mark Henry

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Mae Young and Mark Henry were one of the strangest pairings in WWE history, the WWE Hall of Famer and "Chocolate" randomly started working together before their storyline took a sinister twist when it was reported that Young was pregnant and she then gave birth to a hand in a deeply disturbing backstage segment.

Both Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young were part of a number of strange WWE storylines before they passed, but the relationship between Henry and Young is something that still haunts many members of the WWE Universe to this day. It's probably a good thing that this couple never decided to be anything more than friends.

1 Relationship: AJ Lee And CM Punk

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AJ Lee was once part of a love triangle that included CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, it was during this storyline that Lee admitted in her autobiography that she had feelings for CM Punk. It was after their first on-screen kiss that Lee decided that he was the one and the couple then started dating a few months later.

After just a year together, Lee and Punk decided to marry back in 2014 and have been together now for more than four years. Lee left WWE and since become a New York Times Best Selling Author, whilst Punk has pushed himself into a career with UFC which isn't going as well as his wife's new career path.